“Printers” refer to reproduction devices in general, such as printers, facsimile machines, copiers, and related multi-function products. These printers are used to produce a printed image on media. The printed image is comprised of pixels, which are small masses of marking material. Common marking materials include dry ink, toner, with and without metal particles, wet inks of many forms, such as aqueous ink or ink suspensions, and solid inks that are melted during use. The marking materials may be directly applied to media, either in sheet or web form, or to an intermediate member before being transferred to media. The process of producing the image and fixing it to some form of media may require several steps and many components to perform the several steps.
The media, the ink, and the release agent used or consumed in the printing process are commonly known as consumables. The consumables need to be regularly added to the machine. These consumables may produce debris that is distributed throughout the printer. For example, paper sheets may have dust or other particulate matter on their surfaces that impregnate the air and flow through the recesses and pathways of the printer. Dry inks, such as toner, are developed onto latent images using clouds of the marking materials. Some of the toner material in the clouds not captured by the latent image and not returned to a development station may migrate through the printer. Other marking materials, such as wet inks, may generate residual waste ink that needs to be removed from the machine. Thus, the environment within a printer can contain particulate and other matter that may be considered messy or dirty.
Many printers include components that a customer can easily remove when spent or worn so a new component can be installed. This type of component is typically referred to as a “customer replacement unit” and may include receptacles for waste materials or consumables. A drum maintenance unit that applies release agent to an intermediate imaging member is an example of a customer replacement unit. When a customer replaceable unit is removed by a customer, the customer may encounter debris that has been distributed in the printer. The amount of debris may make a customer uncomfortable with the task of replacing customer replaceable units.